# The basic thesis of Iain MacWhirter's 'Low pay is a cause of stagnation, not a consequence of it' is pretty standard. But the conclusion gets to the crux of the economic case for independence. Rather than the analysing the pounds and pence of the current fiscal situation, the debate should be focussed on whether the following is correct, and if so, the constitutional settlement that will best address it:"Scotland has to reconnect with its manufacturing past. Scotland was one of the most advanced industrial civilisations in the world a century ago, a cradle of the industrial revolution. There was nothing inevitable about Scotland's industrial collapse – it was the result of economic policies that allowed Britain to become grossly over centralised in the South East of England.And it's still happening, with the London Mayor, Boris Johnson, launching his “Vision for 2020” this week, demanding even more national wealth being poured into the infrastructure of the metropolis, in order to make one of the most congested regions on the planet even more congested.Whatever happens in the Scottish independence referendum, the priority has to be preventing this relentless southern vortex of wealth and power from sucking the economic life out of Scotland and turning this country into a tartan theme park. Scots may be unconvinced about the merits of formal independence, but there is a greater understanding today about the causes of Scotland's decline than ever before, and a greater determination to reverse it. That should be the top line on the manifesto of every party in Scotland in 2014."Gerry Hassan's 'Living on an Island: Scotland and the London Question' is another good piece on a similar theme.# I really need to look at and understand Steve Keen and this post looks like a good place to start: Gasping in Krugman's ocean of theory# Another excellent post from Interfluidity that rationalises the accumulation of scale and interconnectedness in regulated finance, and the accumulation of information in regulated surveillance, as consequence of organisational evolution - and in particular the role that regulation plays in this evolution.